Track construction.



H. C. GRANT. TRACK' GOQSTRUGTION. APPLIOATION FILED JAN. z2, 1908.

9259332., Patented June 15,1909.

UNITED srA'rE-s PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY C. GRANT, OF BAYONNE1 NEW JERSEY, ASSIGN OR TO LIONELMANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

-TRACK CONSTRUCTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented :rune 15,' 190e.

Application led January 22, 1908. Serial No. 412,050.

To all whom 'it 'may concern:

-Be it known that I, HARRY C. GRANT, a citizen of the United States,residing at l0 East-Thirty-lifth street, Bayonne, New Jersey, haveinventedvcertain new and useful Improvements in Track Construction, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to track construction for ltoy railway. tracks,andV the object of saine 1s t0 provide a construction comprising aplurality of straight sections and a plurality of curved sections, eachof which is provided with projections by means of which the ends Vof therails are held together and in alinen'ient,l and to make the endsinterchangeable, that is to say, to so construct the endsthat any twoadjacent sections will -coact to forni an unbroken track. v l

vsections of track, that' when they are assembled, twoA of the curvedsections and two of the straightsections may be joined in such a manneras to be of equal length and in position to forni a straightl track byadding a straight section thereto, parallel with the first. straightsection oftrack, as illustrated by dotted lines in Figure 5.

Referring to the drawings which forni a partof thisspecication,-I4`ig.'1, is a perspective, view of one end of arail'having ahole therein and extending longitudinally in alinement withthe tread surfaceof the rail. Fig. 2, is a similar view, disclosing aprojecting pin, semi-circular in cross section, held in the hole. Fig.3, is a View showing a pin circular in cross section held .in the endIof the rail. Fig. 4, is a plan view of a curved section having the pinslocated in proper order, and located in position relative to a secondsection adapted to connect therewith.

Fig. 5, is a plan View of a straight portion of track having a turn outsection and curved section connected therewith, and the dotted lines ofwhich indicate reversed end forend V and connected to the turnoutsect-ion, disclos-4 ing the interchangeable feature of the trackconstruction. l 1

A, indicates a. rail, preferably formed of sheet metal and having an.opening in one end, 'as at a, and a projecting pin ai', at the,

opposite end, preferably circular 1n cross section, and having aroundedor cone-shaped extremity. This' rail may be curvedl as shown, orstraight as illustrated'by A in I B, indicates" the. center rail, whichserves as an electrical conductor and is provided with a pin bprojecting from one end and a pin b from the oppositeA end, and beingseini-circular in cross section, the flat side being turned to the rightat 'one end and to the left at the opposite end, so that the co-- actingpiii iii `the adjacent section Will always litinto the rail beside thepin'located thereinand vice versa.

C, indicates a rail having a pin circular in cross section at the endindicated, and an opening at c similar to that at a' iii rail A. It willbe'observcd that by this arrangement of pins in the rails, the sectionshown in Fig. at ina)Y `be turned end for end andvit will be in properposition to engage the sec. tion I), and this would be the case whetherthe' sections are curved Aor straight. 'It will be observed that thecurved sections may be -so connected as to leave one end in positionIrclativc'to section E, to allow a further straight section to beconnected parallel to the straight lineof track, the ends of which maybe 'iiiadc to coine in line. It will also be obvious that the end ofeach rail may have a scinrcircular projection and a scinicircularopening so arranged as toperiiiit the ends of adjacent sectionsl toalways co' at-t, providing the fiat sides arc all disposed to the righthand side at'one en d and the leftliand side at the opposite end. Thecoiinccting pins andsockets for theI outer rails` are all matched, asare also the half circular pins and their sockets for connecting thethird rail.

Having thus described iny invention, what` I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is,-

A railway track comprising-a plurality of track sections consisting inthree rails mountedA rigidly and permanently on suitable cross ties,ltwo of said rails being simi- .larly provided each with L projecting pinname to this Speoiioatioifl in the presence at the one end and avmatched socket at the of two Subscribing Witnesses, this twenty- 10other end,' said rails being in relatively reseventh day `o December1907. verse position on said ties to present a pin .5 'and a, socket ateach end 'of saidseotion's, HARRY C GRANT and said thiijd `rail havingineach end a Witnesses': du licate -I natched'pin and socket. FRANK M.ASHLEY, i1 testimonywhereof, I have signed my A. T. SCHARPS.

